Welcome to The Twilight Zone
by inukagome15
Summary: Time stamp for "The Last Archangel". What happened to the Fantastic Four in purgatory?


**This is a time stamp for The Last Archangel, although reading that story isn't strictly necessary to understand what's happening here. But it would probably help, and you probably want to read an Avengers/Supernatural crossover, right? In any case, this takes place during Chapters 8 and 9 of that story, though timelines are a bit wibbly-wobbly thanks to the nature of alternate dimensions and beings that can manipulate space and time.  
**

**As for the actual sequel to The Last Archangel? I'm still not sure when that'll be out, but in the meantime do enjoy this.**

**The Last Archangel**: Supernatural/Avengers fusion. No one knows where angels go when they die, not even the archangels. And if one finds himself in a different universe after death? It's one thing to leave heaven purposefully, it's another to find that heaven isn't even there. And Gabriel is alone.

**Welcome to The Twilight Zone****: **Time stamp for the The Last Archangel. What happened to the Fantastic Four in purgatory?

* * *

**Welcome to The Twilight Zone**

* * *

It was a rather normal morning in Baxter Building. Nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. Reed Richards (also known as Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) was on the top level tinkering with his machines as he tried to make sense of the strange readings he'd been picking up from Stark Tower. If he didn't know better, he'd think Tony was screwing with him…

Sue Storm (also known as the Invisible Woman – _not_ Invisible Girl, Johnny! – of the Fantastic Four) was with him, patiently listening to him mutter half-formed equations under his breath before he jumped onto the next.

Ben Grimm (the Thing of the Fantastic Four) had given up several hours into Reed's mutterings and gone down to his room to read a book on the new Stark tablet. Johnny Storm (the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four) was downstairs playing poker or some other nonsense Sue hadn't paid any attention to. She just hoped it wasn't another orgy; they were still cleaning up the mess from the last one.

In any case, Reed and Sue were perfectly content doing their work. They hadn't heard anything from Viktor Doom in months either, which was either bad or good, but Reed was optimistic that his old friend was turning over a new leaf. Sue was wary, Johnny thought he was cooking up another evil plan, and Ben just hoped it wouldn't lead to the Avengers having to swoop in again and save them.

But in any case, it was all perfectly ordinary. And continued to be so for several hours as Reed continued to make no headway in the data he was examining.

"Tony's playing a prank," Sue stated for the tenth time. "This kind of data is ridiculous. Look: there's a piece of code here suggesting the British Prime Minister is an alien!"

"With the kind of things we've seen we can't disregard something like that." Reed was tapping away furiously on his keyboard. "There might be something here."

"It's a prank."

"It isn't." Reed didn't want to say that suspicion was also niggling in the back of his mind as he uncovered a recommendation for a porn site that wouldn't give you viruses.

"'Busty Asian Beauties'?" Sue read, scandalized.

"No viruses." Reed gave her a grin and returned to his work before she could give him a scorching look.

Sue sighed exasperatedly and folded her arms, not bothering to further pursue the argument with her fiancé. Because anything she tried would just roll right off him. He was that thick.

"So now that we've resolved it's not a prank—"

"No, we haven't."

"—moving on!" Reed was determined to find something in this data.

Sighing again, Sue was just about ready to grab Reed by the ear and haul him off to work on something else that would actually _mean_ something when there was a threatening rumble. The floor shook roughly, scattering stray pens, papers, tablets, wires, and other odds and ends to the floor.

Sue and Reed had enough time to share alarmed looks when there was a deafening noise and everything went black.

* * *

Like Sue had thought, Johnny _had_ been playing poker. But it hadn't been leading up to anything sexy since it had been too early in the day for anything like that even for him.

So Johnny had been about to clean the pot when the entire room rumbled and everything went black. When he woke up, he found himself lying under the table, completely alone.

Frowning, Johnny quietly slid out and stood up, bracing himself against the table. The playing cards were still strewn about the surface, but there was no sign of his companions.

"Oh, really, Reed?" Johnny groaned softly. "What'd you do _now_?"

He would've thought that being occupied by data from Tony Stark would have prevented anything crazy like this from happening. But then again, he'd always underestimated the crazy guy.

Sighing, Johnny ran his hands through his hair and resolved to go down and see if he could find anyone. He had no desire to go up and be annoyed by Reed's scientific blabbering. Besides, people would doubtlessly be in need of comfort.

A sly grin crossing his face at the thought, Johnny stuffed his hands in his pockets and set a comfortable pace to the elevators. There were no lights on at the moment, but the shattered glass around him told him enough. It took only a second for him to change his mind and head to the stairwell, picking his pace up as he did.

Whatever Reed had done had knocked out the power, and Johnny hoped it wouldn't end in another lawsuit. The last had been a rather nasty one involving the plumbing and sparkly water that colored anyone who drank it, bathed in it, or showered in it a bright silver.

It was unusually quiet. Johnny shivered slightly as he entered the dark stairwell, the sudden lack of light sending shivers down his spine. He wasn't scared of the dark, but for some reason this lack of light frightened him.

Snapping his fingers lightly, he conjured a small flame in the middle of his palm, tension seeping out of him as the light illuminated his surroundings. Then he frowned at the washed out color of the flames. It looked grayish, nowhere near its usual bright color.

Swallowing, Johnny threw a glance up into the dark shadows of the stairwell – a faint sense of terror ringing through him – and quickly hit the stairs, pattering down as fast as he could. He'd been in the stairwell before, but for some reason a long-forgotten instinct was urging him to _move_.

It was ridiculous. He wasn't a child who was scared of the dark for no reason.

Still, Johnny didn't stop until he hit the first floor, and then he burst out of the doors into the lobby. He stopped abruptly, the flame in his hand flickering out in shock as he realized there was no one here at all.

There _was_ glass strewn all over the floor – glass, luggage, papers, and some stray articles of clothing. But nothing alive.

And everything was a drab grayish blue, completely washed out. It made him kind of depressed. Looking outside, Johnny swallowed thickly when he saw trees, dirt, and more trees. They definitely weren't in New York anymore.

What had Reed _done_?

And where was everyone else?

Taking several deep breaths, Johnny cautiously crept closer to the doors leading outside. The only way he'd get any answers was if he looked.

He ignored the voice in the back of his head that advised him to get the rest of his team. He was a superhero; he didn't need backup for this little thing.

Carefully sliding to the side of the doors and pressing himself against the wall, Johnny peeked out. It was definitely a forest out there, a creepy one and the colors weren't any better out here either. Johnny kept blinking, trying to see if he could make out any green or any other spot of color aside from the washed out blue and gray that was his life now.

Rubbing his eyes in irritation, Johnny silently admitted it wasn't going to get any better. What kind of dimension only had these kinds of colors anyway? Shouldn't their eyes make out other colors regardless of the biology of the actual inhabitants? It meant that the physics of this place were completely different from his own home, and _that_ boggled his mind.

Reed needed to see this if he hadn't already.

Taking a peek at his phone, Johnny wasn't surprised to see he had no reception. He slipped it back into his pocket, about to turn around when something attacked him from behind.

It tore through his clothes, trying to get at his skin but unable to thanks to the uniform he had on. Still, Johnny let out a startled yelp, flung to the floor by the force of the attack. He rolled to the side, scrambling to see what was clawing at him.

Reflexively firing a ball of fire, Johnny was pleased to hear a pained howl before the thing was off him. He used the opportunity to jump to his feet, wincing as newly formed bruises made themselves known. That thing was _vicious_; he'd felt its claws all the way through the tough material that was his uniform.

Speaking of which…where was it?

Johnny crouched low, eyes skittering over the room in search of the enemy. It couldn't have disappeared that quickly.

Five seconds later, another shriek alerted him to the thing's presence, and he reacted unthinkingly. Dodging to the side, Johnny let whatever it was – a shadow? – run past him before he unleashed a torrent of fire down on its head. Far be it for him to be merciful to a thing that would've ripped through him like paper if it hadn't been for his uniform.

To his surprise, the thing shrieked even more loudly than before at the onslaught before the sound cut off abruptly, the blazing figure disintegrating into nothing more than ashes.

Cutting the flames off, Johnny took a deep breath, frowning down at the pile of ashes that had been the thing that had attacked him. That had been a more violent reaction than he'd anticipated; the fire hadn't been _that_ hot.

Darting another look outside, Johnny realized with dismay that he would have to go up to Reed if they were to get to the bottom of this. And since the elevators were out of order, that meant taking the stairs.

Only he wasn't in any condition to take that many flights in one go.

"Damn it." Unbuttoning his pants, Johnny took them off and rolled them up, stashing them behind the front desk. With any luck they'd still be there when he came back. The shirt was a lost cause, so he just let it drop to the floor.

There was no way he was walking up that many flights in the creepy dark. Sue would probably have his head for this, but it was the fastest way he could think of. And he was _not_ going outside.

Taking a deep breath, Johnny stepped back into the stairwell, tilting his head back to look up into the inky darkness.

The "flame on" he whispered was more for morale than anything else, and he felt safer the moment flames enveloped his body and he took off.

It didn't take him long to reach the top, and he almost crashed into the ceiling. Shaking his head, Johnny landed in front of the door and extinguished his flames, opening it and stepping into the washed out light before he could get too creeped out by the dark.

He didn't hear anything, which was disconcerting considering how verbal Reed tended to be when working.

He cautioned a wary "Reed?" When that garnered no response, he tried again. "Sue? It's Johnny…"

Slowly walking forward into the main room, Johnny was prepared for anything. So he wasn't at all surprised to find the room a complete and utter mess, machines and papers strewn all over the place.

"You are so lucky I don't have my phone on me," Johnny said in a normal tone. "Perfect blackmail material, and I can't even commemorate it."

When there was still no response, Johnny stood still, eyes flickering around the room in search for Reed and Sue. He was relieved when he caught sight of blonde hair behind a white desk, and he quickly walked over.

"Sue?" His sis was unconscious, but there didn't seem to be any blood. Reed was stretched out next to her, his head underneath the desk. "Jeez, sis, and you call _me_ lazy." Johnny crouched down, wisely not poking her. "Wakey-wakey."

When neither Sue nor Reed responded, Johnny stood and reached for a really heavy looking folder. He took several steps back before letting it drop heavily to the floor.

The reaction this garnered was instant. Sue and Reed both jerked to a sitting position, though Reed collapsed again when he hit the underside of the desk. Wincing, he cautiously slid back, standing up once he was clear.

"Johnny?" Sue asked, heedless of Reed's plight. "Why are you here?"

"Golly gee, I don't know." Johnny folded his arms across his chest. "Might have something to do with what your boyfriend did?"

Reed sounded confused as he tentatively asked, "What did I do?"

"I dunno." Johnny jabbed a thumb in the direction of the windows. "Fancy a look outside?"

Now Sue sounded confused. "That's – that's not New York."

"Notice anything else funny?" Johnny arched an eyebrow in response to Sue's uncomprehending look. "Hello? Colors? We're all blue and gray!"

"I thought something looked funny," Reed said, blinking rapidly as he looked outside. "But I thought it was from the blackout."

"Nope." Johnny let a small flame dance over his finger. "See?"

Sue scanned his figure. "Why are you in uniform?"

"Elevators don't work, and I wasn't going to walk up thirty plus stairs." Johnny ignored the look his sister shot him. "Besides, the suit saved my life. Something attacked me down on the first floor."

"You shouldn't have antagonized her," Sue said promptly.

"Ha ha." Johnny rolled his eyes. "It wasn't human. Ripped right through my clothes and bruised me pretty badly."

"Where's Ben?" Reed asked, turning his back to the windows.

"I dunno," Johnny said. "I was looking for other people, but the entire building's completely empty."

"He's probably in his room," Sue said.

"Not anymore," Ben's voice said from behind Johnny. "Woke up ten minutes ago. You blew the lights out, Reed."

"It wasn't me," Reed said.

"Who else is an expert on traveling dimensions?" Johnny asked pointedly.

"It wasn't me this time," Reed insisted.

"Honestly," Sue said resignedly, "this time it wasn't."

"So no one knows where we ended up?" Ben sounded disgusted.

"Sounds about right," Johnny said, propping his hip against the desk. He squinted at Ben. "You look kinda blue."

"Very funny."

"Do we know how this could've happened?" Sue said before Johnny could fire back another quip.

"Theoretically, something could've malfunctioned, but I had everything off." Reed scanned the room. "That means it came from outside."

"Doom," Johnny said emphatically.

"Viktor doesn't have the capabilities to pull something like this off," Reed said dismissively.

"Magic, Reed," Ben pointed out.

"It's science. We need to investigate."

"Go outside, you mean?" Johnny asked in dismay. "Have you _seen_ it?"

"It's just a forest," Reed said.

"'_Just_ a forest'?" Johnny shook his head. "No way. Why don't we use one of those inter-dimensional phones and call for help? I bet Tony'd love to."

"He's got a point," Sue said even as Reed furrowed his brow.

Silently, Reed went over to the desk where they had the telephone designed specifically for an event such as this. He picked it up, fingers tapping on the number pad as he presumably dialed Tony's number. Only a few seconds passed before a strange look crossed his face and he hung up, only to try again with the same results.

"Nothing," he announced, hanging up with an air of disgust.

"Isn't it supposed to work regardless of where we are?" Johnny asked, alarmed.

"Yes. But that can be circumvented." Reed shot the phone a peeved look. "We need to go out, get a lay of the land. Maybe we can find someone who can help."

"Yeah, er… I didn't get the impression the locals are exactly friendly," Johnny said.

"If you were an alien and ran into a tiger, you'd think the same of Earth," Reed pointed out dryly. "It was probably just a wild animal you ran into."

"Sure." Johnny let the skepticism he felt color his tone. He couldn't push away the creepiness he'd felt in the stairwell. The aura that he shouldn't be there. That this was all _wrong_.

"We need flashlights," Ben said. "Stairs are too dark to navigate properly."

"We've got some up here," Sue said.

Five minutes later, armed with flashlights and stripped down to their team uniforms, they slowly made their way down to the first floor. By the end of it, Johnny had a newfound appreciation for elevators and felt rather sorry for Ben for always needing to take the stairs.

Once they were in the lobby, Reed gave the pile of ash on the floor an intrigued look but didn't investigate further. His attention was on the outside.

"Gotta admit, Johnny's right for once," Ben muttered. "Doesn't look right."

"It's just a forest," Reed dismissed, pushing the door open and stepping outside. He could've just stepped through the panels because there was no glass, but Johnny figured he wanted some normality.

"Remember when it was _just_ Viktor?" Johnny muttered under his breath.

Sue dug an elbow in his side, shooting him a warning look.

Scowling back, Johnny purposefully stepped through the broken glass in the door. Once he stepped through, the dirt felt normal under his feet, but the colors were still throwing him off.

"Which way, oh fearless leader?" Johnny asked.

Reed didn't react beyond squinting at the sky. He then looked back at the building. "It's like it was just planted here…"

"Who cares?" Johnny bounced up and down impatiently. "I say we head thataway." He pointed straight ahead.

"Well, look at you," Ben rumbled. "All cheery."

Johnny narrowed his eyes at Ben. "I'm making the best of a bad situation, all right? I'm not staying in there"—he pointed back at the building—"so I'm coming with you guys."

"Shh," Reed shushed them. "We should go, but let's keep quiet. We don't know what's in here." He shot Johnny a pointed look.

"So that's why we're going in and poking the bear with a stick?"

"We're not poking it with a stick!" Sue fired back.

Ben cuffed Johnny on the back of the head, shooting him a look in warning. "Let's go. Daylight's wasting."

Stifling his grumbles, Johnny rubbed the back of his head peevishly and set off last after the others. He gave their home one last look before turning and focusing on his family's backs. If they couldn't feel how damn creepy this place was, he was going to be paying enough attention for all four of them.

They walked in silence for about half an hour, though Johnny had no way of accurately measuring time beyond his own internal sense. It could've been an hour for all he knew, but it felt more like thirty minutes. Their building was still in sight, but only if he looked up through the branches. It was an eerie sight that made him shiver and turn his attention back to the ground.

Although they hadn't seen anything yet, Johnny couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched. He'd stopped twitching at the sound of branches snapping, but the hairs on the back of his neck were prickling like there were eyes on them. The fact that there wasn't a single bird singing or another animal sound didn't help alleviate the paranoia.

Johnny paused momentarily by a tree, looking back where they had come. He could still see the spire of their home, standing as a stark contrast to the rest of their surroundings.

Biting his lower lip, Johnny turned to continue on after Ben, only to give a shout in alarm when something jumped out of a tree and landed on Ben. "Ben!"

Ben snarled, swinging his arms around in an effort to pry the human-shaped figure off. Johnny didn't see if he succeeded because he had his own problem to deal with.

A woman had appeared next to him, smiling creepily.

"Uh…" Johnny hesitated, uncertain of whether he should attack or say they were harmless and just wanted help.

Yells from Sue and Reed decided it for him, and he put his hands up placatingly. "We don't want to hurt you," he said calmly. "We were just looking for help."

"You're different," the woman said, dark eyes running up and down Johnny's form sultrily. She grinned, taking several steps around him. "I think I'll keep you."

Johnny let out a nervous chuckle. "Ah, thanks but no thanks. I'm not really looking for anything right now – and _wow_, I never thought I'd say that – but it's really not – oh _Jesus Christ_!" Johnny sprang backwards into a tree when the woman's normal teeth were suddenly obscured by dozens of fangs. "You're – you're not human!"

Something slammed an arm to his throat before he could react, pinning him to the tree. This thing – _Vampire,_ was the only thing he could think of – was a black-haired male, also with protruding fangs.

The vampire guy scrutinized Johnny closely, dark eyes piercing. "Ya know, sweetheart," he drawled in a Southern accent, "he doesn't seem all that smart. Pretty, though."

"Standing right here," Johnny gasped, swallowing under the grip of the vampire's hand.

The male vampire exchanged looks with the female. "You sure?"

She grinned viciously. "Absolutely."

Johnny wasted no more time in figuring out what they were going to do. He burst into flames.

The vampire holding onto him screamed in surprise and pain, leaping back. But Johnny didn't let him go; he reached out, fisting a hand in the vampire's shirt and letting it catch fire.

"Wanna see how well vampires burn?" he asked, letting go to let the flames do what they did naturally: consume everything.

"No!" The female vampire gave a loud shriek and pounced on Johnny – a foolish decision considering he was _still on fire_. He whirled, blasting a small ball of fire into her torso, and her entire body became consumed with flames.

Johnny spared no time to regret what he had just done, instead whirling around to see if the others were all right. "Guys?"

Ben had apparently smashed his attacker into a tree and was brushing something off his shoulder with a grimace. But Reed and Sue were facing what looked like humans with furry faces and long canines.

_Werewolves_?

Considering the day Johnny was having, he would believe anything.

"Duck!" he shouted, twin balls of flames springing to life in his flaming palms.

Unhesitatingly, they did, allowing Johnny to fire the balls directly into the werewolves. They caught on fire, and yelping and screaming in pain, they bolted. A look to the side showed the vampires had also fled.

Extinguishing his flames, Johnny took a deep breath. "Okay?" he asked quietly, stepping closer to the others. "You didn't get bitten?"

Reed and Sue shook their heads, looking rather shaken, while Ben grimaced.

"It tried," Ben admitted, slapping at his neck. "Broke its teeth and jaw."

"Ha." Johnny let out a watery chuckle. "Mine seemed to want to turn me."

"They weren't vampires," Reed said firmly.

Johnny shot him an incredulous look. "So what do you call what just attacked you? A rabid dog? A human with rabies? Newsflash, Reed, that was what you'd call a _werewolf_."

"They're myths," Reed insisted. "Not real."

"Oh, be quiet," Sue interrupted. "We just got attacked, and you're arguing about the existence of werewolves and vampires? We've got bigger problems!"

"She's right," Ben said.

After a moment, Reed said, "We keep moving."

"What a lovely idea," Johnny muttered, crossing his arms. The bruises from his earlier encounter in the tower had now been added to, and he sorely wished he was back home in bed. Sleeping.

There was no point in further debating. They were about to set off again when Johnny saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He had no time to react before Reed let out a startled yell and vanished, snatched by something moving too quickly for Johnny to see properly.

"Reed? _Reed_?" Sue sounded panicked. She turned invisible a second later, a power Johnny now wished he had.

Johnny turned on his feet, desperately trying to find a way of seeing whatever it was that had snatched Reed. But it wasn't coming back.

Then he heard a loud scream before it abruptly cut off. _Sue!_

"Sue!" Johnny and Ben shouted.

"You see her?" Ben demanded.

"She was invisible! I don't!" Johnny frantically scanned the trees, but there was no sign of his sis or her fiancé.

Further discussion was put on hold when Johnny felt something whip past him and snag him by the ankles. Screaming, Johnny only barely registered how fast he was moving before instinct kicked in and he burst into fire, channeling it into whatever was dragging him along like a piece of garbage.

The thing shrieked inhumanly loudly – _exactly_ like whatever had attacked him in the tower – and dropped him like a hot potato. Johnny remained slumped on the ground, watching wide-eyed and panting as the thing crumbled into ashes and the fire extinguished itself, its job done.

"Holy shit." Johnny coughed, spitting out some leaves that had gotten into his mouth. "Holy _shit_."

Pushing himself to his feet, Johnny brushed off some dirt, inspecting his new surroundings. It appeared identical to before, only he couldn't see where the others were. "Guys?" he ventured to call out. "Hello?"

There was no response, and Johnny was hesitant to try again considering what could be listening.

Swallowing thickly, he looked around one last time before picking a random direction and beginning to walk.

He'd been moving for about ten minutes when he literally stumbled into Reed. "Reed!"

"Johnny." Reed sounded relieved to see him.

"You're okay?" Johnny gripped him by the arm, anxiously inspecting him for injuries. Miraculously, he was absolutely fine.

"I'm fine." He pulled away from him. "Fine."

"Where's Sue?"

Reed shrugged helplessly, looking to the side. "I don't know. I found myself alone in a cave. Escaped before it – whatever it was – could come back."

"Okay…" Johnny nodded, rocking back slightly. "Okay," he said again. "We'll figure it out. Find Ben _and_ Sue."

"Yes." A flicker of a smile crossed Reed's face. "We will. Let's go."

Setting off after Reed, Johnny really, really hoped they could get home soon.

* * *

"Reed? Johnny?" Sue grunted as she lightly expelled a small force field to blow open the exit of the cavern she was in. Washed out light immediately flooded in, and she turned invisible just in case.

Quieting her breathing, Sue turned on her heel, peering back into the cavern she'd been dragged into. She then immediately wished she hadn't, as skeletons littered the floor. Some looked human, but with more teeth or claws than possible. Others didn't even look close to human, and Sue quickly looked away before she could start to feel sick.

None of these skeletons were Reed, she reminded herself. It would take time to kill and skin a human – oh God, why had she just thought that? – and Reed had only been gone several minutes before she had been snatched.

"Reed?" she called quietly, hands prepared to throw up a force field if need be. "Reed?"

There was a low groan from somewhere in the cavern, and Sue instantly sprang forward, heart leaping. She didn't drop her invisibility, mindful of the fact that the thing that had put her here could have a partner.

Still, she exhaled in relief upon seeing a twitching, grimacing Reed propped up against a wall. "Reed!" she whispered, picking up her pace.

He blinked blearily, looking confused. "Sue?"

Sue let her invisibility go, crouching down next to Reed to help him up. "Come on, we need to go."

Reed stumbled slightly, evidently woozy from being knocked out. "The others?"

"Not here." And Sue hoped they wouldn't be.

"Good, good," Reed muttered, stumbling as he tripped over a skull. He stared. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Sue said shortly. "Which is why we need to move."

"Cannibals," Reed said faintly. "I can't believe it."

"Might've been a bear," Sue said.

"No. I saw it before it knocked me out. It definitely…" Reed frowned, wincing as they hit the light. "It _looked_ humanoid. But the lighting…" He shook his head.

The lighting was bad enough that they couldn't trust their eyesight, and inside a hollow in the ground it would be even worse.

"Let's find the others," Sue suggested softly.

"We need to orient ourselves first," Reed said, squinting up. "Hold on."

Sue didn't blink as he extended his neck to stretch above the treetops. It was only a few seconds before he came back down.

"That way," he said, pointing to the right. "Tower's there. Ben and Johnny will head that way, too."

"How far?" Sue asked, dreading the answer.

Reed grimaced. "Hour's walk? Maybe more?"

"Terrific." They should've listened to Johnny and just stayed put.

"Should've listened to Johnny," Reed muttered, voicing Sue's thoughts.

"Let's not tell him. He'd be insufferable."

"We needed to know," Reed said. "At least now we do. There's no help to be had here."

"That's it then?" Sue asked. "We can't get home?"

"I don't…" Reed sighed, looking up. "Without power, it's unlikely. Our backup generators are gone, and we've got nothing else. Help needs to come from outside."

"Tony." Sue's voice was confident.

"Yeah." Reed frowned, looking off into the distance. "Let's hope he's quick about it."

It was another few minutes until they stumbled into Ben and Johnny, both of whom looked relieved to see them.

"Sue! Reed!" Johnny went to inspect Sue carefully. "You're all right?"

"Bump on the head, but yes," Reed said. "You?"

"Fine," Ben confirmed.

"Whatever it was," Johnny said, "it didn't come after us."

"Huh." Reed tilted his head to the side. "Odd. It wasn't with us."

"That a bad thing?" Ben asked. "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth and get outta here."

"Good point," Sue said, sharing a glance with Reed. "Let's."

Heading in the direction Reed had picked out before, nothing attacked or disturbed them. It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Sue felt vaguely disturbed as she considered this. But the others seemed unbothered, so perhaps she was overreacting.

Or perhaps not, since they cleared some bushes only to stumble across Ben – another one.

"What." Reed blinked uncomprehendingly.

"Stay back!" Johnny shouted, throwing his arms in front of Sue.

"What?" the other Ben growled, his eyes flicking from person to person. They narrowed upon landing on the Ben who had been accompanying them.

"Shape shifter!" the first Ben accused.

"I don't think so," the other Ben said. "Just me…"

Sue's mind whirled, desperately trying to make sense of what was going on. Obviously one Ben was an imposter, but which one? And what about Johnny then if the one _they_ had was the imposter?

"As far as I know," Reed said calmly, eyes flickering between Johnny, Ben, and Ben, "it's impossible to replicate our DNA exactly without having a sample. So, Johnny…if you wouldn't mind putting some flames on?"

Johnny tensed, looking between Sue and Reed. He laughed lightly. "Uh, you're joking, right? I'm Johnny, your brother?"

"Johnny." Sue's tone bode no arguments.

No one said anything for several long seconds, staring at each other warily.

Slowly, Reed inched away, eyes flickering between Johnny and Ben. Without a second's hesitation, Sue followed his motions, prepared to defend themselves if necessary.

Then, surprisingly, both Johnny and Ben sighed, relaxing their stances.

"We've been had," the Johnny-lookalike admitted.

"Pity. It was fun." The Ben-lookalike looked disgruntled.

"Who are you?" Reed demanded. "Where are they?"

"I'm right here," the other Ben said. "Johnny got snatched by whatever took you."

"_No_." Sue bit her lip, dismayed. She hadn't seen him at all.

"You guys should've played along," not-Johnny sneered. "Would've been easier for all of us."

"Sorry." Reed didn't look very sorry. "We're not that kind of crowd."

"Should've realized that before." Not-Johnny sounded disgusted with himself.

"Bit late for self-recriminations, don't you think?" Reed shot Sue a significant look.

"Nah," not-Johnny drawled, sounding so much like her brother Sue's skin crawled. "Way I see it, you guys are fresh meat. And the thing with fresh meat? It's ripe for the picking."

"Unless it bites back," Sue said, drawing all eyes on her. She turned invisible, darting around Reed and Ben. The impostors looked confused, heads whipping around.

The moment Sue stepped behind the false Johnny, she whipped her hand out, conjuring a force field and flinging him into a tree, flinching as he hit it head first with an ominous cracking of bone. It wasn't her brother, but it _looked_ like him.

Reed had gone for the fake Ben, restraining him while the real one took him out. And if Sue had any doubts as to his actual identity, they were squashed by him pummeling the impostor in a way no one else would've managed.

Reed retracted his limbs, stepping away from the mess Ben had made. "Overdid it a bit, don't you think?"

"If you'd seen what I did the last half hour, you wouldn't think so," Ben said, wiping his hands off on a tree trunk. "You didn't see Johnny?"

"It was just us," Sue said, flickering back into visibility now. "Maybe it didn't get him?"

"It did."

"He's likely to have burned it when it tried," Reed said calmly. "Let's move. We'll catch up with him at the tower."

There wasn't anything Sue could say to that. Her sisterly instincts screamed at her to go _look_ for him, but the sensible part knew that finding Johnny here where they had no idea as to the layout of the land would be close to impossible. If he was sensible, Johnny would head back home, and that was where she was most likely to find him now.

Sue could only hope that for once in his life, Johnny would do the sensible thing.

* * *

"So you've got any idea what this place is?" Johnny asked after several minutes of silence.

"Not normal," was Reed's unusually curt response.

Johnny waited a beat before nodding and saying, "Obviously, but you must've figured something out by now. What good's that big brain of yours otherwise?"

"For plenty," Reed said smartly.

Johnny didn't falter, but his eyes narrowed. "Any idea about those people back there?" he asked casually. "What was up with them?"

"They were vampires and werewolves."

"Uh-huh." Johnny nodded once and slowed slightly, keeping close to the other's back. "So where d'you think we are? Monster dimension? And where're Sue and Ben gonna be?"

"We have to keep looking," the answer was. "They're probably back at the tower."

"Yeah, probably," Johnny agreed, gripping hold of Reed's shoulder to pull him to a stop. "So you understand why we can't go any further."

Reed looked questioning. "Why?"

Johnny's answering look was grim, and his grip tightened. "Because you're not Reed."

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm Reed!"

"No, you're not. Reed can't keep his mouth shut. And he wouldn't call them vampires and werewolves. Which you would've known if you'd watched us longer." Johnny shrugged, face hard. "But hey, no skin off my nose. Now before I fry you, are you gonna tell me where they are?"

The transformation of not-Reed's face was startling. All at once his mouth twisted into a sneer, and his eyes were cold. "So you're not as stupid as you look."

Johnny grinned, fingers digging into not-Reed's shoulder, which began to smoke as he superheated it. "Nope."

"You think you can attack your friend?" not-Reed demanded.

"You're not him. So where is he?"

Not-Reed bared his teeth. "I'm not telling," he sang, abruptly pushing himself directly into Johnny's space. "And _you're_ not going to find out."

That was all the warning Johnny had before he was surrounded on all sides by things definitely not human. "Aw crap."

Pushing not-Reed away from him, Johnny gave his enemies a cursory look before saluting merrily and flaming on, taking off in a torrent of fire.

He heard growling, howling, and snarling break out behind him. Looking down, he saw a large shadow look over him. Not willing to look and see what it was, Johnny banked a sharp left and zigzagged through the trees.

It'd be better if he could fly over the trees, but he really didn't want to meet whatever it was that had created that shadow.

Where the hell were the others?

* * *

"—so maybe that'll teach you to mess around with things you don't understand!" Tony finished, concluding with an arched eyebrow.

"For the last time," Reed said, "I wasn't. Besides, I'd never get anything done if I took that advice."

"You mean most of what you research is stuff you don't understand?" Johnny asked, grinning broadly.

"I mean that it's an area that I'm researching because we need to know more about. Experimentation is part of the job."

"How many people are interested in alternate dimensions?" Ben asked. "Because last I checked, no one was."

"I am," Sue said, arms folded across her chest.

Reed smiled at her fondly, and Tony rolled his eyes, buffing his nails against his jacket.

"Well," Tony said loudly, "if that's all, I'll take my leave. You guys clearly have things organized here." He gave a pointed look at the mess in the room.

"You're one to talk," Johnny said. "Clint's told me that you have _mold_ growing in yours!"

"All lies," Tony said imperiously. "But I make no promises about scorch marks."

"How did you manage it?" Reed interrupted.

Tony switched tracks effortlessly, not even blinking as he answered, "Built one of your machines and hooked onto the signal of the original. It was a great deal more complicated than that obviously, but you can look at my notes."

"Yes, I'll do that." Reed went to Tony's side, looking down at the tablet the other procured.

From beside Sue, Johnny sighed. "I am so glad we're outta there."

Sue didn't reply beyond a head tilt, but she was in complete agreement. They'd wandered around the forest about an hour until running into Johnny and heading back into the building. It was luck that about thirty minutes later Tony had managed to pull them back home. Now they were back, all rather tired and on edge and so, so glad to be back in a world filled with colors.

Sue blinked, her peripheral vision tinged blue. It was gone a moment later, and she put it off to residual muscle memory.

"We figure out yet what that place was?" Ben asked.

When the two geniuses didn't reply, Sue did. "No. And I don't think we will."

"Do we want to?" Johnny said. "Because that place was seriously creepy."

"We take care of the creepy stuff here," Ben grunted.

"Well!" Tony clapped his hands together, grinning in what he probably thought was a roguish way. Sue was reluctant to admit it worked. "That's that. I'll take my leave now. Leave you to it." With a wave, he sauntered out of the room, leaving Reed with his tablet.

"You're keeping that?" Sue asked.

"It's got his notes," Reed said unashamedly. "We can figure out what happened and where we were."

"So we can go back?" Ben sounded disgusted. "No thanks."

"Of course not." Reed looked offended. "So that we know where it is in relation to this world and how we can avoid it."

Ben sniffed. "Good."

Sue glanced over at Johnny, brow furrowing as her brother looked rather bluish for a moment before it cleared. Blinking didn't bring the sight back, and she shook her head, brushing it off.

The rest of the day passed by innocuously enough. Sue made sure everyone came down into the kitchen to eat – takeout because the power hadn't yet come back on.

She was taking a bite of her stir fry when Reed literally disappeared. She had no time to panic before her entire world went topsy-turvy and she found herself blinking into awareness, surrounded by trees and washed out light.

"Damn it, guys!" she heard Johnny shout. "Now is not the time to be taking a nap! Move it!"

Blearily, Sue turned her head, noticing that her arms seemed to be tied above her head. Reed was in similar straits next to her, but he was already undoing the knots with his elastic fingers.

"_Sue_!" A flaming figure appeared before her, glaring. A fireball burned through the rope holding her up, and her knees hit the ground before she could stop them.

"What happened?" Reed asked, pulling her to her feet. Sue wobbled slightly, but found her footing soon enough.

"I don't know!" Johnny sounded offended. "I'm the one who found you guys snoozing away! You were almost lunch for these guys!" He waved a flaming arm to three blackened and charred bodies lying on the ground.

"You killed them?" Sue asked faintly.

"They were going to _eat_ you," Johnny said slowly. He shot a look over his shoulder. "We need to _go_, guys. I had some nasty stuff on my tail when I found you."

"Where's the building?" Reed asked.

"There." Johnny gestured behind them. "Come _on_."

Although still shaky, Sue quickly set off behind Johnny when he moved between her and Reed. Her brother had turned off the flames, but he kept looking over his shoulder and around him as if expecting an ambush.

For all she knew, he was.

Reed picked up his speed to ask Johnny, "What happened?"

"I got snagged next, fried the thing that got you, but I was lost. Ended up running in something that looked like you, Reed, but it wasn't as obnoxious so I got suspicious. It called for help, and I scrammed, ran into you snoozing, and here we are." Johnny's explanation was unusually succinct for him, but he shot another worried look over his shoulder and Sue let it go. Besides, he'd been flaming, and that was definitely her brother.

Despite Johnny's obvious worry, they weren't ambushed as they came within sight of Baxter Building, but he had them stop before going in.

"I'm hearing something," he whispered, eyes scanning the tower.

Expanding his hands, Reed cupped both his ears. After a few seconds of concentration, he shrank his hands and said, "There's nothing in there."

Johnny looked intensely skeptical. "Are you _sure_?"

"Yes." Reed gave their surroundings one last look. "Now let's go inside."

Despite his trepidation – or perhaps because of it – Johnny went in first, hands clenched into fists. He stepped through the door, not bothering to pull it open given the broken glass. Reed was close on his heels, and Ben was behind Sue.

The lobby was empty and dark. But the shadows seemed far too dark for Sue's comfort. And Johnny was practically vibrating, eyes flicking around so quickly she was surprised he wasn't getting dizzy.

"Upstairs," Reed said after a moment.

"The stairwell is creepy as shit, Reed," Johnny hissed, darting a fierce look at him.

"Afraid of the dark, Johnny?" Ben grinned. "Aren't you a little old for that?"

"Not here," Johnny answered vehemently.

"We have flashlights," Reed said, shooting them both a quelling look. "We need to get back to the lab."

Although he looked mutinous, Johnny remained quiet.

Reed fetched the flashlights and handed them out. They turned on quickly, and Sue felt comforted by the light, no matter how washed out it was.

The stairwell was pitch black as they entered it, and the lights they carried only illuminated conical sections of it. Johnny entered last, his knuckles white around his flashlight.

Still, Johnny's fears seemed unfounded as they walked up three flights without a problem. Sue was beginning to think he was being a bit ridiculous

They were halfway up to the fourth floor when something hit Reed, throwing him back and down a flight into the wall with a pained cry. His flashlight went flying, clattering to a stop somewhere Sue didn't see. But when they turned their flashlights on him with alarmed cries, there was nothing there save for a shellshocked Reed.

"Something just tried to kill me," Reed said faintly.

No one said anything, but Ben let out a pained grunt and was thrown clear across the stairwell to the opposite side. A loud sound like that of rock being scratched filled the air.

Sue turned invisible, clamping her mouth shut lest she betray her position with a shout.

Johnny was less inclined to be discreet. "Sue, force field!"

Sue barely had time to throw one up before he burst into bright flames, illuminating every inch of their surroundings. Inhuman screeching filled the air.

"How d'you like that, huh?" Johnny demanded. "A little brighter?" And he turned it up even more; Sue saw the shadows fleeing his fire.

Oh Christ, the _shadows_. Johnny had been right all along.

"What are you waiting for?" Johnny whirled to Sue, flames leaving an afterimage of where he'd been. "Let's move it! We need to get outta here and into the light."

There was no hesitation from the others. Sue rushed to Reed to pull him to his feet, and then they were slamming into the door and stumbling into the hallway. Ben lumbered out a few seconds later, Johnny several feet behind him and still blazing. When he slammed the door, he left a smoldering handprint on the frame.

"We in the light?" Johnny asked, spinning around.

They weren't, so they quickly pushed into a room with open windows.

After a quick purview of the room, Johnny's flames went out and he slumped down into a chair, his visage unusually pale in the bluish-gray colors of this world.

"You gonna listen to me now?" he asked wearily.

"How did you know?" Reed said instead.

"I didn't. It was just a feeling. That place creeped me out from the get-go. In case you haven't noticed, the shadows here have teeth."

But it was more than that. Johnny hadn't wanted to go into the forest, and for good reason. They wouldn't be in this mess if they'd listened to him, which was a far cry from their usual circumstances when it was Johnny's rash nature that got them into trouble.

"What about in the forest?" Sue propped her hip against the desk in the room. "You didn't want to go."

Johnny gave her a "are you stupid?" look. "Would you? No, wait, don't answer that." He flapped a hand. "It makes me feel all weird. It doesn't feel safe. Neither does the tower."

"Then what should we do?" Reed demanded. "We need the equipment on the top floor."

"Yeah, well, we can't take the stairs," Johnny said. He stiffened, looking over his shoulder out the windows. "And we should hurry, 'cause I don't think we're gonna be the only ones here in a few minutes."

"We can't take the stairs," Ben pointed out, rubbing his chest.

"No kidding." Johnny stood, peering out the windows. "But we know this building inside and out," he continued. "And we're _superheroes_." He gave them all a look. "We can do this."

"That doesn't mean much. They're frightened of you, but not of us." Reed sounded considering, his brow furrowed in thought.

"That's not too surprising," Sue said. "It's fire. And what are we?"

"You've got force fields and invisibility," Johnny said. "And we're gonna need that. Think you can take the vents?"

"There's no light in there!"

"Which is where your force fields come into play," Johnny said.

Howling filled the air, startling all of them.

"Scratch the vents," Johnny said, biting the words out. "We're out of time. We're taking the stairs."

They all burst into chatter at once, and it took Johnny glaring to shut them up.

"I'm going to herd them," Johnny said. "They can't touch me, so I'm going to herd them right out of the stairwell and solder the door shut while I'm at it. The moment I'm out, Reed, you're the ticket up. Just stretch."

The howling cut off, and Johnny pinched his lips together. "Out of time."

Sue bit her lip, desperately wanting to tell him that this was too risky a plan for them to go ahead with it. But it was all they could do.

"We've got another way up," Reed said quickly. "The back stairs? They're not likely to take those."

"I'll meet you there," Johnny said. "Just gotta make sure they can't get on this floor." He ran out before they could say anything.

"We're gonna listen to him?" Ben asked.

"We should've from the start," Sue answered before Reed could. "We wouldn't be in this mess otherwise."

"Can't do anything about it now," Reed cut in. "Let's go. Watch those flashlights." His own was still in the stairwell, and Johnny's had most likely melted, leaving them with only two.

They were quiet as they ran through the dark hallways. None of the shadows attacked them much to their relief. They didn't have anything for something like that other than Sue's shields, and those were primarily for defense.

Not for the first time, Sue wished she had something a bit more offensive. Then again, the other two were probably thinking similar thoughts considering Johnny was the only one with any defense against the dark and had a surefire way of keeping himself safe: just set the enemy on fire.

They rounded the corner and found themselves face to face with a huddle of humanoid creatures. They looked human enough, but Sue had no doubt they weren't.

The fact that their enemies were just as surprised as they were was Sue's and the others' only asset as they sprung into action.

Ben slammed two into the wall before they could react and punched out another one. Reed slithered into the crowd and began causing mass chaos by being hard to catch.

Despite the fear surging through her, Sue gave the closest sharp-toothed creature a smirk and turned invisible. Then she formed force fields around as many heads as possible and slowly began suffocating them.

Johnny had better hurry…

* * *

Johnny was having issues of his own. He'd had no problem getting to the door and soldering it closed. It was when he began to run towards where the others were that he ran into trouble.

Two very human-looking things walked out one of the rooms and caught sight of him. They promptly broke into large grins.

"What do we have here?" the one on the left purred. He had a real beard going on there.

"A little lamb lost in the forest," his partner answered, his beard just as scary.

"A lamb?" Johnny forced a grin. "Nah… See, I like to think myself more a _dragon_." On cue, he flamed on. He shot two fireballs at the creatures. They dodged, but he took off, blazoning past them and around a corner.

There was a reason why he didn't fly indoors, and Johnny was abruptly reminded of this fact when he almost crashed into a wall as he took a right. In order to fly, he had to do so at high speeds or he'd crash and burn. This was practical outside, but not so much indoors.

Johnny took another turn and promptly smashed into a force field. He hit the floor, flames sputtering out in his surprise. Blinking, he didn't see his sis anywhere – not too surprising – but he did see what looked like a moving mass of bodies. He could make out Ben and Reed and Sue's force fields, but that was it.

And this was taking too much time.

"Drop it and duck!" Johnny shouted, coming up to his knees.

To their credit, they didn't hesitate. The force field disappeared a second later, and Johnny burst into flames, sending a pillar of flames at chest level down the hall. His team didn't get hurt, but none of the monsters had anticipated such an attack and burned with agonized shrieks.

Job done, Johnny killed the flames and ran forwards, hauling Sue to her feet. "Let's go!"

They ran past the panicking monsters and the smell of burning flesh and fur.

Johnny entered the stairwell first, flaming on. "Sue, force field! Can you cover them?"

"Get it under us," Reed added quickly.

Sue frowned but said nothing as a large force field immediately snapped up, surrounding all of them except for Johnny, who soldered the door behind them closed.

"Give me five," he said, looking up into the foreboding darkness.

He didn't wait for an answer, taking off immediately. He heard screeching as he annihilated the shadows, and he could see them fleeing him.

Soon they were cornered at the top, and Johnny dimmed enough to provide enough natural shadow for them to hide in before he turned on the power full blast, sending them scattering helter-skelter to the bottom; he followed them down, not giving them a reprieve.

He screamed a "Now!" as he zoomed past the others.

And then he was at the bottom, frightening the few monsters that had found the door and opened it. Some of the shadows used the opportunity to flee, but most remained, shrieking and writhing in the few natural shadows that remained.

Johnny spared a look up, but saw nothing other than the underside of Reed. _Come on, Reed…_

It seemed to take an eternity before he heard Reed's magnified voice call his name, and he took off immediately.

Nearly crashing into the ceiling, Johnny landed on the floor hard, stumbling a few steps before finding his balance. He slipped through the door and closed it, soldering the frame shut before letting his flames extinguish.

Panting heavily, he leaned against the door for a few seconds. But he wasn't left alone long.

"Johnny?" Sue appeared, brow furrowed in concerned. "You all right?"

"Fine." Johnny pushed himself upright, shooting her a broad grin.

Sue didn't look at all convinced, but she thankfully let it go. "Then come on. Reed's going to seal this place off."

"You mean the whole tower?"

"No, just this floor."

"Oh, that's _fantastic_." He sounded rather breathless even to his own ears, and _Ben_ was looking at him in concern.

Hell, Reed looked over at him, too. "Johnny?"

"I'm _fine_," Johnny insisted, and that sounded fine to his own ears. "Let's focus on how we're gonna get outta here."

"We can't," Reed said, turning his attention back to whatever he was doing. "It needs to come from the outside, so we just have to hope Tony's quick about it."

"Remind me again who has the machine that can look through dimensions?" Johnny sat down heavily in the closest chair.

"Useless with power," Reed said shortly. "And we've got nothing." He slammed his hand against the console. "I can't seal us off." He sounded frustrated.

Ben snapped his head around to Reed. "I thought you said you could?"

"I thought I could. It's supposed to be running on an independent power source from the rest of the grid, meaning it should work regardless of what happens. But something's knocked it out."

"Or no power works here at all." Sue sounded resigned. She closed her eyes, and a shimmering force field went up over the windows. "That's the best I can do for now."

"I soldered the door shut," Johnny said, looking back at where the elevators and stairwell were. "And it's light here."

"But for how long?" Reed's voice was subdued.

It was a stark reminder that they had no idea how long the days and nights were here. They'd already been here for at least six hours, making it approximately late afternoon in their home dimension.

Johnny did his best to sound confident as he said, "Yeah, but if Tony's as smart as he claims he is, we'll be out of here in no time." Despite his best efforts, he felt exhaustion tugging at him, but there was no way he could let it pull him under.

As if to taunt them, the faint sounds of howling and snarling met their ears. They looked down at the floor beneath their feet.

"You want me to block that off?" Ben asked, pointing to the only way into the room.

Reed sounded reluctant. "Best not. We do need a way out of here if all else fails."

Sue's force field shimmered, reminding them that at least one avenue was safe.

"So we wait?" Johnny didn't like that idea at all.

Reed didn't look pleased either. "We wait."

Well, fuck them all then. Tony had better hurry and pull them back, otherwise there might not be anything left of them.

Johnny mentally slapped himself. He wasn't usually this morbid, and it wasn't going to help them.

Except for the noises of the monsters somewhere below them, it was silent. So it wasn't hard to miss when the sound of gnawing came to their attention.

"Do you…hear that?" Sue looked rather tense.

"Sounds like a hundred rats chewing," Ben confirmed.

"We don't have rats," Reed objected slowly, spinning around in a small circle.

"Yeah, and we don't have vampires and werewolves on our doorstep," Johnny said.

"They're not vampires," Reed said absentmindedly.

"You admit they're werewolves?" Johnny was on his feet now, moving to the center of the room where it was more easily defendable.

Reed frowned, giving him a reproving look. "No."

Something crashed to the floor behind them, and they whipped around to see what looked like a piece of the ceiling. Slowly, they looked up, tensing when they saw what it was.

"Holy shit," Johnny swore quietly. "What _is_ that?"

There weren't any words to describe what it was other than "sharp-toothed" and "black sludge." It ate through the ceiling like it was paper, and it fell to the floor with a wet squelch.

Johnny didn't give it any time to recover, firing off a fireball immediately.

"Johnny!" Sue gasped.

"Shoot first, ask questions later! I don't wanna meet the thing that can do _that_!" Johnny pointed up at the hole in their ceiling.

"There's more!" Ben shifted into position behind Reed.

The walls were crumbling now with flashes of white things that looked like teeth.

"Sue, can you block it off?" Reed asked urgently.

With a faint grunt, Sue pushed her hands out, and now the entirety of the room was surrounded in shimmery blue. Her voice was strained as she said, "I can't hold it for long. I'm – oh _God_."

The cause of her alarm was instantly evident when one of the monsters _ate through her shield_.

"Fuck," was all Johnny could say. He shot a fireball at it before it could get any closer to them.

"I really can't hold it much longer, Reed!" Sue trembled visibly, arms shaking with the effort of holding the force field up.

"Then drop it," Reed said. "It's not doing us any good."

The force field disappeared a moment later, and what really terrified Johnny was that it made no difference to the monsters. They didn't speed up or slow down; to them the force field might not have existed at all.

"We are so screwed," he muttered, hands working in agitation.

There was a loud snarling sound behind him, and Johnny whirled, only to be thrown to the ground by the first monster that he'd torched earlier. He turned on his flames instinctively and tried to fend its hungry mouth off, but there was nothing to grip onto that wasn't teeth.

The monster was gone a moment later, punched off by Ben.

Gasping, Johnny let his flames die, looking wide-eyed up at Ben. "T-thanks."

"Seriously, don't mention it." Ben pulled him to his feet and took his back. "You good?"

"Y-yeah." Johnny shook himself, refocusing on the problem at hand: monsters chewing through the walls, and they weren't stopping.

He flamed on just as another monster jumped on him. He channeled a burst of flames hotter than the sun into it and was gratified when the thing exploded into black bits.

"Can you do that again?" Reed asked instantly.

"Needs to be concentrated, but yeah." Johnny fired another burst of flames exactly as hot as before at a group of monsters. The monsters glowed hot red and seemed to swell, but nothing else happened. "That doesn't look good."

No one else was able to comment since at that moment the superheated monsters exploded into small fireballs.

Johnny was unharmed, but Sue let out a shriek of alarm and Reed a pained cry. Ben gave a pained grunt, black scorch marks the only sign the fire had hit him.

"Not repeating that," Johnny muttered, noticing with dismay that five more monsters were congregating on him and Ben, and more were most likely attacking Sue and Reed.

"Duck!" Reed shouted.

Johnny and Ben hit the floor, the ground vibrating slightly from Ben's weight.

Turning his head, Johnny saw Reed's arms flinging monsters left and right, aiming them at the holes already in the walls. A force field exploded one of the monsters close to Johnny, the black sludge sizzling as it hit his flames.

Johnny grimaced as the stench reached his nose. "Ugh, monster barbecue."

"Johnny!" That was Reed again.

Johnny raised his head. "You sure?"

"Yes!"

"Supercharged fire bombs coming up!"

Firing off as many as he could, Johnny hit almost all his marks. The fireballs that missed left golden marks that steamed softly.

"Careful!" Reed snapped.

"Oh, sorry, did I destroy anything expensive the monsters didn't get?" Seriously, Johnny just didn't get Reed.

"Not the time, Reed!" Sue said crossly.

The monsters Johnny had hit were beginning to swell.

"Hit the ground!" he yelled. Not wanting to tempt luck, he did as well, and he felt superheated fireballs soaring over his head seconds later.

When it was clear, he cautiously looked up, noting with relief that it looked like the monsters were gone. Letting his flames go, Johnny pushed himself to his knees, sensing Ben do the same next to him.

"We good?" Johnny sounded breathless.

"We're good." Reed sounded just as breathless.

"Good job, Johnny." Sue's voice was strained, and when Johnny looked he saw lines of strain around her eyes and mouth.

"Ah, no problem." Johnny felt rather wobbly as he stood and inspected the destruction.

There was black sludge everywhere, and it was…moving?

"Oh shit." Johnny felt like crying.

"What?" Ben asked.

"Oh hell." Evidently Reed had seen the same thing.

"Any ideas, Reed?" Johnny asked.

"That was my last," Reed said.

Johnny blinked. "No kidding?"

"I could probably come up with some more, but they all require supplies we don't have!"

Five of the monsters had reformed and seemed rather pissed to Johnny's amateur eye. Even more were pulling themselves together, and the sound of teeth clattering together filled the air.

"I just want to say that you guys aren't that bad and I've had the time of my life," Johnny said, pressing back against Sue. The four of them had formed a small circle.

"We're not going to die!" Sue protested.

"You have an idea that'll get us out of this?"

"No, but…"

"We're not going to die," Reed said.

"We're going to die," Ben said.

When Tony pulls the building back, there'll be nothing but scraps left of them after these monsters are done…

Johnny didn't bother quelling the morbid thoughts running through his head. What was the use? It wasn't like they could do anything! Positive thinking was going to do squat.

And soon enough, they'd all be—

The building shook. The floor practically rolled beneath their feet, and they barely managed to keep their balance.

A roaring sound like an enormous waterfall filled their ears, drowning out all other noise. Stunned, they clapped their hands over their ears and looked at each other and at the monsters.

They didn't seem to like the noise either. In fact, they were slithering out as fast they could, leaving nothing but holes in their wake.

Johnny desperately wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but that godawful noise was still there and he couldn't hear anything else.

Then there was light, and it was growing brighter and brighter, until it was so bright that it hurt his eyes and he had to shut them. His eardrums were vibrating in his skull, and it _hurt_—

* * *

He was on the floor. He was on the floor, alive, and it was blessedly quiet.

Exhaustion tugged at his limbs, but he managed to roll over on his back, blinking as his eyesight adjusted. It was so _colorful_. He raised a hand just to be sure it wasn't only his surroundings.

His uniform was a vibrant dark blue, and his hand the pale color he was used to. No more washed out blue and gray. The world felt _right_ in a way it hadn't for hours.

Groaning softly as his limbs protested the movement, Johnny sat up, looking out the windows at the familiar sight of New York and Stark Tower not too far off. It was _amazing_.

"Johnny?" Sue's voice was faint.

Johnny practically flopped to the floor as he turned to her, clasping her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm here. We're all here. We're _back_."

"Just like that?" Ben grunted, sitting up in a slow, slumbering movement. He shook Reed. "Reed."

"W-what?" Reed blinked awake, clearly dazed. Then he blinked again, clearly disconcerted. "It's…colorful."

"We're back!" Johnny announced, beaming. "See?" He pointed out the windows.

"That's…a relief." Reed didn't seem as exuberant as he should've.

Johnny raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"What if it's another dream?" Reed wondered, standing up.

"It isn't," Johnny said.

"Could be," Ben said. "The last thing felt pretty damn real."

"It's not," Johnny said again. "It's the real deal." He couldn't say how he knew, only that he did.

Sue gave him a piercing look and slowly nodded. "All right," she said calmly. "I'm going to call Tony, and we'll go from there."

As Sue and Reed began to pull together the things they needed, Johnny flopped back down on the floor, closing his eyes as he breathed in deeply. His limbs felt like lead, and the fire he could usually feel burning under his skin was mere embers rather than a comforting slow burn.

They'd just gone through a nightmare, but Johnny couldn't care less. He was home, his family was safe, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

**There's a reason Johnny was epically freaked out by purgatory, and it's because he's a bit more supernaturally sensitive than the rest of the team. So his senses are just a bit sharper than that of the others, which is how he knew the entire place was bad news. For the record, this is the first time I've written an entire story with the F4, and it's using the first movie as a base. _Silver Surfer_ never happened.  
**

**Please let me know what you thought!**


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